Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Seeing The Other

Nothing exists until or unless it is observed. An artist is making something exist by observing it. And his hope for other people is that they will also make it exist by observing it. I call it creative observation. Creative viewing.

– William S. Burroughs

Occasionally, I get emails that make no sense to me. Written in response to my work, they are often articulate but they refer to something invisible to me. The writers assume that I understand what they're talking about, simply because they experienced an intensely personal response to an image (or words) I created. Too often, I don't.

It's puzzling and yet very touching. It reminds me that art extends far beyond its original conception – and the object itself. What it evokes within each individual is different and sometimes mysterious. I can never fully understand but I feel very lucky to be a part of it.

On a completely different topic: I came across an old image (above) online of a couple of murals I did outside a tattoo parlour in Brisbane's West End. Neither the parlour nor the murals are there anymore. As is often the case with my early work, I feel a vague sense of relief.

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

Hey Haze, you say you feel a sense of relief, vague or otherwise, is that because you've moved onto fresh,new ground, in your art and in life? Leaving things behind with no attachment, just a thread of memory and perhaps a pic in your portfolio. Tick Tock, we all move on...Kellie

Who

Since 2006, Hazel Dooney has emerged as one of the Asia-Pacific region's most controversial female artists. According to the US magazine, Obvious, "Hazel personifies an alluring, punk rock, mischievous, genius artist... She is the outsider that everyone wants to be connected with." Her work in various media has hung in solo and group shows in Australia, the USA, the UK and Japan and in private, corporate and institutional collections in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, the UK, and the USA.

What

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